HANABI
by Creax
Summary: (AU) (RanKen) - “There's never a day that I have to remember you because I never for a moment forgot you.” -
1. Prologue

**HANABI  
**"_There's never a day that I have to remember you because I never for a moment forgot you."_

**_Prologue_**

* * *

**Weiss Kreuz does not belong to me.  
****All lyrics + selective chapter titles used throughout totally belongs to almighty Ayumi Hamasaki.**

**Pairings**: major Ran/Ken, slight Ken/Omi, slight Schuldich/Ran, slight Schuldich/Crawford. –smirks- You'll know why _soon_.

**Rating**: from PG-13 to R (at later chapters for possible –ahems- scenes)

**Please enjoy and review.**

'_Italics'_ are thoughts.  
"…" are dialogues.  
**_Italics with boldness_** are emphasis.

**A/N**: I got a really severe writer's block from "**Because of You**", thus deciding to rewrite everything again. So, ta-da! I renamed it to "**HANABI**" (it means fireworks in Japanese), partly inspired after listening to it several times.

* * *

Winter has begun. A new year is coming. Can you smell it?

_Jingle bells, jingle bells…_

_25th December… does this date ring a bell in your head?_

Christmas carols filled the streets, along with wondrous flashing lightings and exquisite decorations hanging off buildings and lampposts. The atmosphere created was happy, everyone was happy, little kids were screaming with joy. Truly, almost nobody can deny the spirit of Christmas…

**_…Almost_**

I buried my hands deeper into my coat's pockets and observed my surroundings as I walked down the snow-covered pavement. Fallen snow crunched under my boots. A gush of winter wind blew by, messing up my dangling crimson ear tails that I didn't stuff into my woolen hat(1).

At times, groups of certain enthusiastic children might run across my path, I cursed inaudibly under my breath. _'Stupid children…but immature enough to stay innocent and carefree'_, I thought and sort of envied them, just a little. The path came to an end at the traffic light crossing. Since everyone was still waiting, an advertisement on a gravity-defying extreme flat panel screen hovering above me caught my attention. Looking at it intently, I sighed… My creation didn't look that promising.

Year 3000 was a year for the acclaimed cyborgs of the century, and also for Ran. They were everyone's dreams. They made **_everyone_** happy. He had fulfilled everyone's dream, indirectly. It looked so _human_; it could even be someone's friend. Unfortunately, its creator wasn't contented with his works.

_'How much help can these pieces of metallic shit can be to humans? In the end, every single command are programmed to react this or that way…Artificial Intelligence.'_

The traffic light flickered from red to green, signaling the crimson haired guy to cross. I could count, that by looking at the pack at the crossing alone, nine out of ten were with my product. Accidentally, someone was blind enough to bumped into me. His hair was brunette and definitely shorter then me.

"I'm so sorry!" He apologized profusely. His Personal Cyborg(2) held onto him, partly because it was programmed to react this way. "Are you safe, sir?" I heard it asking its owner. I wasn't really facing _at_ him, but when he finished bowing apologetically, I caught sight of his eyes.

Amazing color I must say. Although I only got a quick look before I turned away, I could tell it was of deep chocolate brown color(3)…and _warm_. I sense some warm sensation sparking off inside me. His eyes possessed warmness anyone would yearn for if deprived of it. You know, like rays of sunshine? Future Tokyo wasn't that bright… there's always a constant hazed atmosphere hanging around, refusing to go away. Surprisingly on Christmas it wasn't that hazy anymore.

But I preferred dull cold atmosphere. Suits me _perfectly_.

We parted as fast as we met. But I had this feeling inside me I might see him soon again…destiny perhaps? I never really trusted such stuff. When I got to the other side, it was _very_ unlike of me to turn around; half hoping I could at least catch another glimpse of the stranger.

'_Too many people…'_ Was I disappointed?

* * *

Soon, I found myself standing in front of this certain tombstone, half-buried by snow. Cold. Icy. Emotionless. The carved words on the headstone stared back at me. My parents died in a highway car accident last Christmas. It was the oil tank's driver's fault. Drunk driver. I cursed him to the place deeper then hell.

It read: _In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Fujimiya._

And, as though I did make a blind forgotten promise to someone, there'll be always 2 lilies, almost buried due to heavy snowing. Its' flower heads stood out of the snow, proud and glad to be noticed. I pulled them out, 'saving' them. It was fresh, so whoever always remembered to put, came not long ago. Until now I still couldn't make out who it was. I placed the flowers back gently, patted the lilies heads lightly.

Pure white, like the snow, like the soul of the kind stranger who always came mysteriously.

The thought of my younger sister, Aya, came into my mind. But, no, it couldn't be. For years, she was reported missing… oh, that dreaded memory started to crawl into my stream of thoughts. I clenched my fist into a ball, closed my eyes and sucked in the frozen dry air.

_Be gone. Be gone. Erase it from my head._

I coughed slightly when the air inhaled hurt my throat, just a small sharp pain. I massaged my throat gently. Dry. But enough to make that thought fade away…

I made my way back home, slowly, by foot.

* * *

**A/N**: 

(1) – Can you imagine! I know I can. O.O" KA-WA-II!  
(2) – In future chapters, I'll only called 'em **PC**, **P**ersonal **C**yborg.  
(3) – Yes, is Ken's eyes chocolate brown? (Ok, I'm dumb. Please forgive me. I have short-term memory.)

**Chapter 1 might take a while longer for me to finish. I'm having major tests next week. So, review and cya! Thank you all for reading in advance-smiles-**


	2. Chapter 1

**HANABI  
**"_There's never a day that I have to remember you because I never for a moment forgot you."_

**_Chapter 1_**

* * *

**Weiss Kreuz does not belong to me.  
****If any lyrics used throughout, they totally belong to almighty Ayumi Hamasaki.**

**Pairings**: major Ran/Ken, slight Ken/Omi, slight Schuldich/Ran, slight Schuldich/Crawford. –smirks- You'll know why _soon_.

**Rating**: from PG-13 to R (at later chapters for possible –ahems- scenes)

**Please enjoy and review.**

'_Italics'_ are thoughts.  
"…" are dialogues.  
**_Italics with boldness_** are emphasis.

**Author's Notes**: I AM **VERY HESISTANT** ON WHETHER IF I SHOULD CONTINUE IN RAN'S VIEW OR THIRD PERSON'S VIEW… so, yeah. I've been editing this chapter for the third time! –faints- I told myself to type in a view I'm most comfortable with…there you have it, in Ran's view.

* * *

"Ran Fujimiya." I spoke clear enough into the speaker for the voice-activated door to recognize. 

"Voice match affirmative. Welcome back, Mr. Fujimiya." A robotic female voice replied back in no less then 5 seconds and the door swung open by itself.

"Ran! Welcome back! We were about to start dinner _very_ soon." A cheerful plump middle-aged woman came over with open arms, and gave me a warm Christmas hug.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too." She was much shorter then me, so I bent down slightly and returned her a quick hug.

"Omi will be waiting for you in the dining hall." She whispered with a quick wink. I acknowledged with a slight nod and hung my almost frozen trench coat conveniently by the door. With that aside, I knocked out the snow stuck underneath the boots and pulled off my woolen hat. Feeling much, _much_ lighter from all those, I did some light stretching too because my body muscles were so stiffened up by the extreme weather outside, it hurt.

"RAN-KUNNNNNNNNN! QUICK! I'M STARVING!" Omi's chirpy voice traveled from the dining hall and eventually into the main room where I was.

'_Tsk, will he die of hunger if I'm late by a few seconds?'_

Omi owned this huge mansion. The rooms were countless. There were too many to remember. All I know I had this really spacious guestroom to myself and I'm pleased with it. His parents, both working for the government, were presumably on a very long overseas business trip, or so according to what Hana, his aunt (the one who hugged me just now) said. She was obviously lying, I could tell from her eyes. She did never lie well. Omi's parents died years ago. How? I didn't know. When I tried to ask, she wouldn't say. Well, then that's it. Wouldn't care _that_ much. My main concern was whether God could give me a sign, **_any sign_**, to Aya's situation. However, I'm quite surprised to see my best friend not wanting to use my successful creation hailed by mankind.

.xxx.

Before my feet could even step into the hall, all was heard and saw were, someone yelling "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" so loudly my eyes widened, and then the next moment Omi was on top of the fallen me. Yes, Omi practically defied gravity and flew towards me with open arms.

"Merry Christmas, Ran-kun!" Omi said excitedly into my right ear, squeezing me so tightly like a comfy bolster.

_'Sheesh. His voice rang inside my head. My mind was spinning. I saw some imaginary white spots twinkling before my eyes. I. Hate. It. So. Much.'_

"Get-off-me-Omi." I muttered angrily, pushing and trying to get the young boy off and onto his feet again so I could stand up and rub the invisible sore spot at the back of the head. Usually Omi would play a fool and continued sitting on me. Surprisingly well behaved, he got off automatically and even helped to pull me back up.

"Will you please stop pouncing on me like that? I'm not prey for god sake."

"I'm sorry… just got carried away. But, Ran, you're always so serious! When will you ever learn to relax…" Omi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms around his chest, in a cute sort of manner. Ignoring what he said, I made my way towards the long rectangular dining table instead. Omi gave up trying to 'reprimand' me and followed behind, humming some carols softly as he sat down at the end of the table. I took the seat to Omi's left and his aunt, Hana, reappeared in time with fresh new clothes and also looked very neat after a bath, supposing. She took the seat beside Omi, leaving me all alone on my side. As expected anyway.

"Well then, let's tuck in!" Hana signaled with another smile. I then let my fork sank deep into the warm mashed potato in my plate and started.

I ate in silence. Omi would occasionally babble certain conversational topics to Hana because he knew very well it'd be better. He understood me very well enough for the past 10 odd years. He knew when I would talk and when it was time for leaving me alone, which was now. Then silence ensued, only sounds of moving cutlery could be heard. Hana broke the deafening silence again and actually decided to chat with me.

'_Uh oh. Wrong timing, Hana!'_ thought Omi, his eyes darted nervously from Hana to Ran.

"Okay." I decided to answer, quietly to her question on my work. Omi looked sort of relieved and chewed on his turkey pierced on his fork in his mouth.

'_Ohh, surprisingly.'_

.xxx.

Several **_seconds_** later…

"I'm done." I drank one last mouthful of juice, wiped my mouth clean with the napkin and was going to leave.

"Desserts, my dear?" Hana quickly offered. Declining with a slight wave, I stood up to leave the table.

"Omi… is he always like that? Quiet? Man of few words?" Hana asked Omi quietly. Omi shrugged slightly and nodded, turned and stared at the older man disappearing into the main hall.

.xxx.

On my way upstairs, I stopped by the main door and gathered my now warmed coat and woolen hat back. Draping the coat over the shoulders and clutching onto my soft hat, I took a deliberate slow walk up the winding stairs. If you were terribly exhausted, this flight of stairs would seem to go on forever, unless you're as hyped as Omi, then it's a different story.

Random thoughts flooded my mind with every step ascended. Hopes on seeing my sister once again, alive and safe in one piece; new ideal theories for another likely project set by my boss; the feedback I had by just strolling down the streets to see how the new product was received by the public…and then my mind decided to freeze right at this particular fuzzy image of the young man I bumped into earlier. The one with the … rather astounding eyes, it had left a deep impression in my mind already…

Little did I know, I was already at my room's door.

"Er, are you trying to open the door with your mind power? Because it doesn't work that way." Omi nudged me back to reality. I blinked twice and spun around. The boy instantly flashed another one of those toothy smiles, this time round with that 'oh-I-knew-it!' type and said, "I KNEW IT. You spaced out! Must be thinking of—" His smile grew wider.

"No, I'm not." I straightened up and pressed my palm against the palm-print recognition sensor (PPRS) beside the sliding door, entrance to my bedroom. It did a very quick scan in less then 3 seconds and was approved, of course. I had this installed, to be absolutely sure that _my room_ will be _very_ safe from curious nosy strangers who only liked to mind other people's business a.k.a Omi. Sometimes he can be really nice and sensible enough. Only until my latest project, **'Personal Cyborg A3000 (PCA)'** became such a huge success Omi was awed. He didn't know his best friend was _that_ talented.

"Can I go in?" Omi pleaded. I frowned.

'_Honestly, he's been doing this every time I enter my room!'_

"NO."

"PLEASE?"

"Stop asking." The door slide shut tight.

Omi grumbled and mumbled something inaudible and left. As the usual me, I didn't care much and tossed what I had onto the bed. Something shiny and small flew out from the one of the coat's pocket, landing together with the rest. Surprised to find it, I moved closer and picked it up. It was a … key? Smaller then usual ones, this definitely suited those older types of keyholes. It also had a small oval tag attached to it. I flipped it over, as the one facing me was blank.

_Hidaka Ken_

My mind did it again. It flashed that image of the brunette boy who bumped into me. It _must_ be him. How careless can he get? Noting that it was getting late, I left the key on the bedside table and went to bathe.

_'How am I going to return it back to him?'_

.xxx.

Christmas was soon going to be over in less then an hour. The moon was out of sight again, as the haze returned once again and had engulfed its brightness. The room's visibility dipped a little, but that made me lying on the bed in total darkness now. A little annoyed, I got up, wandered aimlessly through the darkness with arms outstretched like a little child playing tag with his eyes blindfolded.

"Argh, where is _that_ damn lamp!" I had to curse. It was so terribly hard to find without auto voice-sensitive lights to turn on or off. Why on earth didn't Omi upgrade this OLD mansion? So inconvenient…

A foreign object shaped like what it might be a lamp got into contact with my frantic searching fingers. Ah-ha! Without thinking twice, I hit the switch straight away. The light emitted from that blasted lamp was so sharp and extremely white bright my eyes saw imaginary spots again in the now dully-lit room. I swore yet again with both my eyes covered with my right palm and walked away from the light source.

_'One day! Just one day I'll force Omi to upgrade his mansion fully! I can't stand it…my eyes hurt from looking straight at the light bulb. Grrr…'_

When my eyes were much better, I sat on the edge of my bed, near the bedside table and picked up that key again.

"Ken…" I murmured softly when the tag showed me his name and I touched the words that were etched deep into the surface of the rusted metal plate. As I gazed at it with interest, a sudden thought spawned in my mind.

_'Polish it. Help that poor young man polish it!'_

I shook my head at first, intending to pretend not to know it. But when I gave the nametag second look, I decided I just had to. Just helping, nothing more…

_Or so I thought._

.xxx.

The clock read 3.18 a.m. Everyone ought to be asleep by now, is not it? But Omi decided not to. It was not that he wanted, he couldn't help it but his nightmares came haunting him again.

The unforgettable memories of his parents' brutal murder…

Visions of that deranged **PC** holding on to a bloodied sharp-edged item, still wet, dripping with warm blood. Its' body was stained with spots of crimson color. The furniture around him was red. He huddled his little shivering body closer, even tighter. His throat was drier then the wind of the Sahara Desert. He wanted to scream but couldn't. He wanted to cry but couldn't. It spotted him and slowly turned around, menacingly…

Its' hollow mechanical eyes were filled with **_nothingness_**.

Young Omi could do nothing more then stare into its bionic eyes. His heart had stopped pounding.

_Endlessly pit dark._

However, this time round, it was much more damaging to him within. In other words, he had completely fallen deep into his illusionary abyss of fear. He was awoken with shock, but the moment he opened his eyes he saw what he wished he could shut his eyes back again, sealed tight. But he couldn't. His fingers clawed deep into his bed sheets and he held his breath.

The blood-drenched robot was back for him. In its' hand still gripped the same weapon as 10 years ago. And the sharp edge was only a few centimeters away from his nose, almost touching. A drop of now cold blood trickled down from the edge onto his nose. His heart stopped.

What Omi didn't know, that all these were just merely hallucinations, but to him they were real.

"Target…sighted." The robot said monotonously, plunging the weapon right into his face. Omi's eyes widened, big as a full moon, and screamed his lungs out.

.xxx.

I shot up in bed from my deep slumber and held onto my head, my mind spinning on the inside. Apparently, someone screamed so loud that could even penetrate into my dreams. I heard the screams again, along with fresh new crashing noises. Things were being thrown, I supposed.

Quickly, I slipped into my night coat (as I was only in my boxers) and dashed out of the room. IT MUST BE OMI.

When I reached the corridor leading to Omi's room, another set of running footsteps was heard behind me. I twisted my head a little and looked behind, it was only Hana. She looked VERY worried. But somehow there's a side of her looking prepared and expected, liked this actually happened before. Omi's door came into sight, but Hana pushed me aside roughly and reached out for the doorknob, twisted it in one full quick turn, and burst right into the room. Her arm strength was startling. I felt it when she pushed me aside. Strong but she still looked so gentle. But it was for the better, when the door swung open a vase flew towards us! I pressed myself flat against the wall behind me, saw the vase flew straight past me and smashed right into a wall, but my mind was, instead, visualizing what would happened if I was hit right on into my face with a brittle vase. Luckily she avoided it too in that split second.

"OMI! OMIIII!" Hana sounded desperate. She looked as though she was going to cry soon. I stepped into the extremely messy and dangerous room slowly. Omi had stopped hurling whatever objects he saw around him and was whimpering, huddled himself really tight and was seated on the floor. His face was hidden by his crossed arms and bended knees so I didn't really know how he was.

His room was filled with all sorts of damaged objects, all shattered into pieces now. The broken mirror caught my attention. One large piece was missing and the shape was an extremely sharp one.

_Sharp and lethal_

Then, as if an invisible hand smacked my back so hard, I looked back at Omi, especially at what he was holding carefully.

_It was it._

Hana was closing to her own death only. "Hana, step back! Don't go!" I yelled at her, my hand stuck out, hoping to grab her shoulder and pull her back. She shook off my helping hand and proceed even nearer to Omi.

_'Is she crazy?'_

Perhaps she was. Perhaps it was because she must have experienced this before, so she must have known how to deal with him. I stood rooted to where I was. My mind went blank.

"Omi… my dear boy… Shhh, it's only me. Hana." She knelt slowly in front of the frightened boy, who was still rocking himself slowly and squeezing onto the mirror shard. He finally looked up from his knees.

"I—I—I w—was …protect… only want to protect…parents…Papa Mama…" Omi whispered.

Omi was in such a terrible state. His face had a lot of forceful fingernail scratches that were red, blood red. His eyes were swollen from too much of crying. His arms were tormented with countless scars, some deep it was bleeding, and some surface cuts but still as bad.

"There, there. Omi, everything's just an illusion. It's not real. Don't keep harboring on it." Hana stroke his hair gently and was trying to persuade Omi to release his grip on the shard, which was obviously cutting too much into his palm's flesh even blood is trickling from the shard now.

"Come… let go of the shard. You're safe. You're fine now. Nothing's going get you. Really." Hana smiled promisingly. Omi hesitated at first, shook his head stubbornly but when he saw the glimmer in Hana's eyes, he finally dropped the blooded shard onto the floor. A tear rolled down Hana's cheeks. It wasn't sadness but hope. She was relieved and brought Omi close to her, hugged him comforting. I quickly rushed beside her and kicked the shard away, for fear mainly. The shard disappeared silently under the bed. I looked back at the embraced two and felt slightly touched by them.

_How a loved one's words could be so powerful…_

.xxx.

I helped Hana bandaged Omi's self-inflicted wounds in her bedroom since Omi's room was in such a state no one could even sleep in. The boy was now sleeping soundly. Hana had fed him with his emergency medicine, which was something like sleeping pill. Except that this will not caused the traumatized to have any dreams or nightmares temporarily.

We weren't speaking to each other until Hana broke the deafening silence.

"Do you fear him now?"

I was quite taken aback by those words. I opened my mouth slightly, wanted to reply a quick 'No' to her but closed my mouth back without saying anything. 'No' might not be the right word to use now, especially to what I've witnessed earlier. A normal person would say 'Yes!' but I'm Omi's friend. It's different. Why did Omi have to keep such secret from me?

"Do you want to know?" Hana started again. I looked at her, then glanced over at Omi and decided it should end here now. No one should suffer so much. I nodded.

"Come with me then."

* * *

**Author's Note**: GAH! I never really intended this would end up such a long chapter. I'm so sorry to those who hate long chapters! I was so overwhelmed with this idea of angst Omi (lolx), my flow of thoughts couldn't stop. So there you have it, for my slow update, here's 3000 odd words in return! Haha! 

**Replies to my dear reviewers**:

**I treasure ALL my reviews. No less. Thank you all so much, I never expect that short mysterious prologue could gain 5 reviews with 2 author alerts. –looks nervous-**

**dark** : Whoaa! Wait till you read more, it'll be totally unexpected! Thank you for reviewing!

**westkitsune** : Hi there! Uh, Ken IS the owner of PC, not the other way. –sweat drop- Heh. Thank you for adding me as your author alert. I truly hoped I didn't disappoint you with this chapter.

**Mistress of Darkness I** : That tag line was actually from this song '**HANABI**' by Ayumi Hamasaki. I titled this story with that, and saw this very meaningful line in the lyrics. This song is a very, very sad song. Hence, my story might be? Won't spoil the plot here for now.

**The Invisible Fan** : I wrote more! 3000 odd words just for ya! Hehe! Enjoy! Thank you for adding me as author alert too! Woots! I'm so happy! –dances-

**Zeto** : Zeto! Zeto, Zeto, Zeto. When are you going to update '**Longing To Be'**? I'll be waiting eagerly! Ah, thanks for clarifying about Ken's eye color. And, wow, you know Japanese? Yeah, actually I saw the Chinese translation for Hanabi, it was 'fireworks' so I thought naturally into English it's the same, heh. You must be good in both Chinese and Japanese! Thanks for the lovely explanation on 'hanabi'. It's good.

**Now, as for the next chapter, I think I might be slow with the update too! Mwwhahaha!Sorry,real busy with school!**

**Thank you all for reading in advance.**


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